Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus capable of reserving received print data in a storage device, and starting printing according to an instruction of a user via an operation unit.
Description of the Related Art
Known image forming apparatuses have a function called a box function. The image forming apparatus having the box function stores print data sent by a printer driver of a personal computer (PC) into a storage area called a box in a hard disk. A user can start printing of the print data stored in the box using an operation panel at desired timing.
In recent image forming apparatuses, to increase the level of security and to prevent print products from being left, an operation mode can be set to a forcible reservation mode. The image forming apparatus operating in the forcible reservation mode forcibly stores received data in a hard disk regardless of whether the data sent from a PC is an instruction to perform printing or an instruction to reserve the data. A user who has issued a transmission instruction with the PC moves in front of the image forming apparatus to log into the image forming apparatus, and instructs to print the forcibly reserved data using an operation panel. Through the user operation, the reserved data is printed.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2009-143081 proposes an image forming apparatus that performs control to forcibly reserve a print job of N or more sheets, or a print job of a specific user.
When the data is forcibly reserved in the forcible reservation mode, however, data to be stored in a box is also temporarily reserved in a storage area where data is forcibly reserved, and the data is not stored in the box until the user issues an instruction in front of the image forming apparatus.